February is celebrated as Black History month in the U.S. and other
countries. For us Black History is every month. So we've decided to
add this Caribbean Pride section to the site to salute
outstanding West Indians throughout the year. Some of them were born
in the islands and others have their roots in the islands, but one
thing is sure they all have the same traits--strong, intelligent,
creative, proud--in true West Indian style.

Black Awareness

up, up, you mighty
race

NAME: MARCUS GARVEY
COUNTRY: JAMAICA

A black nationalist leader who
created a "Back to Africa" movement in the United States. Garvey
was born the youngest of 11 children in Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica.
He left school at the age of 14 to serve as a printer's
apprentice. A few years later, he took a job at a printing company
in Kingston, where in 1907 he led a printers' strike for higher
wages. Garvey then traveled to South America and Central America.
In 1912 he went to England, where he became interested in African
history and culture. He returned to Jamaica in 1914 and shortly
thereafter founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
and the African Communities League. In 1916 Garvey moved to the
United States and settled in New York City.

There he incorporated the UNIA and started a weekly
newspaper, the Negro
World. A persuasive orator and author, Garvey urged American
blacks to be proud of their race and preached their return to
Africa, their ancestral homeland. To this end he founded the Black
Star Line in 1919 to provide steamship transportation, and the
Negro Factories Corporation to encourage black economic
independence. Garvey attracted thousands of supporters and claimed
two million members for the UNIA. He suffered a series of economic
disasters, however, and in 1922 he was arrested for mail fraud.
Garvey served as his own defense attorney at his trial, was
convicted, and went to prison in 1925. His sentence was commuted
two years later, but he was immediately deported to Jamaica.
Unable to resurrect the UNIA or regain his influence, Garvey moved
to London, where he died in 1940.
Among Black Leaders, Marcus Garvey was unique; his popularity was
universal; his program for the return of African People to their
motherland shook the foundation of 3 Empires. All subsequent Black
Power movements have owed a debt to his example and his prophecy
has been fulfilled in the independence that brought to being 30
African Nations.

NAME: EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ--MALCOLM X -
TIES TO: GRENADA

Malcolm Little was born on May
19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Louise, a native of
Grenada, and Earl Little, a staunch Garveyite who was harassed by
the KuKlux Klan for his pan-African beliefs and eventually killed
by whites. Malcolm dropped out of school and eventually became involved in
criminal activities, which led to his arrest and conviction for armed robbery
in February 1946. While in prison, he became a follower of Elijah Muhammad,
the then leader of the Lost Found Nation of Islam and soon discarded his
slave name, Little, and took

the new name "X."
At the height of his power Malcolm was one of black America's most
powerful voices and was said to be the only black man who "could
stop a race riot -- or start one." He traveled widely in Europe
and Africa attempting to link the black struggle in America with
those abroad. At one point he even advocated and prepared to take
the United States before the United Nations for charges of
"genocide" against its black citizens. In 1964 Malcolm made a
pilgrimage to Mecca, obligatory for orthodox Muslims, where upon
he changed his name to El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.
On February 21, 1964 in front of a crowd in the Audubon Ballroom
in New York City, Malcolm X was shot to death by three men.
Labeled as angry NOI members, the three were convicted with
Malcolm's death. However a host of suspicious events and
contradictory information presented at the trial have led many to
speculate whether more sinister forcces, namely the US government,
may have been behind his death. Thus Malcolm's life, like his
death, has remained shrouded in mystery. But even beyond death, El
Hajj Malik El-Shabazz inspire generations for decades to come